Re: Grey.

by Kaotic Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:45 pm

/ /: Outside the TR fortress

"By the Cows?" Kao murmured, with a look of confusion on his face.
What had happened in the last minute was intensely strange and puzzling.
He had just stopped the Telejump to see Weena fly through seven walls, the portal close, the scent of Doomfire*, Atriax trying to get the barrier down, whilst a small zard jumped the barrier, and the barrier disappeared in a shimmering haze....

Kao ran into the fortress, EoM Materializing in his right hand, to see a big skinless dragon ignite in a green flame, to be replaced by Alfreddo, Jeff and Vamp!

~^_^^~

Everything had settled down, the Hospital wards were quite full, which was a unfortunate.
Juli and Winnie were huddled around, Risa's ward I think it was, and were both looking quite grim
I'll address Juli and Winnie later
Flaw and Shadow were generally directing the TR traffic, and Weena was standing in the hallway beckoning him.
"Vamp wants to see you" He said quite quickly

so off Kao and Weena trotted to where Vamp was located (that is top secret O:)

*Doomfire gives off a scent that only mana bender's can smell (Klasthe defy's the laws of Lore, therefore it is a mana bending power)

by **Shadow** Tue Jan 12, 2010 2:39 pm

The past few hours had been a blur to Shadow, and he was starting to get to the end of his tether. After he and Flaw had directed the chaos that had come from the second episode of Grey's plotting, he decided to go and rest. He wandered off into the nearby forest, as he enjoyed being alone when he felt this worn out. He found a comfortable pile of leaves next to a large pine tree, and sat down with a plonk. He wasn't used to this sort of excitement in the clan, he was used to just hanging around and relaxing with his fellow Regulars. "Don't worry Shadow, this will all be over soon," he said to himself soothingly.

A few hours had past, and he found it getting rather dark. Shadow didn't mind the dark at all, but the knew some dangers still lurked in the forest. Rustle rustle. He began to get suspicious, so he headed back to the stronghold, as he didn't tell anyone he left and they would be getting worried by now. Rustle rustle snap. He became increasingly worried and started to run. Suddenly he was surrounded by stone-cold soldiers that looked almost zombified. These were no ordinary forest terrors, and he knew that the had been sent to get him. 'Pfft, these guys will be easy,' he muttered, then started to slash with his trusty cane. They were no match for him, but unfortunately the lifeless warriors kept appearing out of nowhere, and eventually they overpowered him. They tied him up, and then with a poof, they were all gone. No evidence of Shadow's demise had been left.

by Guest Tue Jan 12, 2010 4:06 pm

"You want us to do what?" Kao spluttered, once he and Weena had left the stronghold. "That's... that's... in fact, do you even know the potential harm this can cause?!"
"I know," Weena replied, though his voice wavered ever so slightly, "But think of what the consequences will be if we do not do this. I felt a strong life force simply disappear only a few minutes ago. Besides, think of what Grey could do with It for evil if we do not harness It's power for good."
"But it's impossible to penetrate Klasthe!" Kao protested.
"Listen," Weena replied, "If I was able to, then there's no doubt in my mind that Grey will be able to also."
"Ok, fine," Kao agreed edgily, "But are you aware that this could put the fate of Lore in jeopardy? Klasthe's power gemerald is one of the seven major mana sources on Lore! This could throw the balance of the world out of proportion."
"I know," Weena unintentionally whispered, his eyes losing focus.
"Ok, then," Kao said, "We might as well get going, there have been werewolf sightings recently."
"Good point," Weena replied, "We'll need to use your tele-jump."
"Finally, some exercise!" Kao smiled.

***

A few hours later they'd made it to the centre of Klasthe, Weena lightly pulsing blue as he allowed Klasthe's defensive enhancements to pass through him. They sat in a meditation position on opposite sides of a giant green gemerald, which was balancing perfectly atop of a tree stump. It seemed to give life to the forest around. Kao and Weena were humming quietly, using the gemerald to boost their powers. Working in conjunction, with the Gemerald ot boost their powers, they could sense basically anything on the planet.

After a few minutes of searching the mana stream, Kao triumphantly shouted, "Aha! Found him!"
"Where?" Weena asked, trying not to disrupt his concentration.
"Around the mountain district," Kao replied. There seems to be two other strong life forces with him, and a seemingly endless number of lesser beings."
"Ok," Weena replied, "Zooming in." Zooming in was a phrase advanced Mana Benders used to say that they were delving into the stream that leads up to a certain place in the world.
"Ah," he said, "I think we've found Charon, and what appears to be Shadow's trace. I think we'd better tell Va-"

Then his world went black. He heard a shatter, Kao shouting "NO!" and a loud thump.

It took his senses a few seconds to realise that the thump was his body slamming on to cold ground. He heard a cold chuckle and raised his body off the ground to see Grey looming above him. Weena instantly leapt back, on guard. "What are you doing here?" he shouted.

"Ah, but the question you should be asking yourself, is what are you doing here?" Grey responded with his cold chuckle.
"Why don't you tell me, I suspect you were the one that brought me here in the first place, am I correct?" Weena replied, trying to bide time to take in his surroundings. He noticed Charon and Shadow both propped up against Grey's throne, both would've made beautiful statues if it wasn't for the fact that they were both bound.
"More than that, my boy," Grey said. "I not only redirected your mana burst to bring you here, but I also deflected a great amount of power. By now, I believe the world has been thrown into utter chaos, brought on by the fact that the Klasthe Gemerald was just destroyed, and you, are the one to blame." Grey chuckled again.
"No... no... NO!" Weena couldn't believe it. Kao had warned him, but his arrogance had caused this. Now, the world also thought he had caused a catastrophe, or that's what Kao would tell them.
"Now, if you wouldn't mind, would you care to join my trophy collection?" Grey feigned politeness.
"What are you going to do, make me?" And with that, Weena ran.
"You can't hide from me forever, pawn!" Grey's voice echoed.

Suddenly about a hundred stone-cold soldiers appeared in front of Weena. He sent a mana blast at them, and they went flying. Argh, Weena thought, With all these flashing lights of course he's going to find me. But nevertheless, he kept on running. Running away.

by **Cial** Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:30 am

Cial lay in his hospital bed, surprisingly, alone despite his dire need of medical attention. Someone peeked in.

"Is he OK? Why are the lights off?"
"He's fine, the doctors are still wondering what's going on."
"Wha--?"
"It's like a coma, but he's breathing like he's awake, and he's super responsive."
"How..."
"Don't worry, I have faith he'll pull through"

***

"Do you know what you must do?"
"Yes, Master Stronghold. How do I leave?"

"There are two elements. You must be blessed by the light of Vamparagon's Xia, and be engulfed by Ryzaa's Doomfire."
Master Stronghold held Cial's head.
"Go and leave clues to help them."

***

Cial's body, instinctively, began scratching odd images and words on the walls, never ceasing.

by Guest Wed Jan 13, 2010 6:40 am

//: Grey's Demesne

Weena sprinted as far away as he could, his footsteps echoing on the cold, hard ground. He slashed through a stone-cold soldier, trying to avoid using any flashing lights. Grey's chuckle seemed to echo everywhere in the dimly-lit cavern, or was it a castle? It was impossible to tell. Suddenly a dozen or so stone-cold soldiers leapt at him from his left, and he instinctively incinerated them with a blast of mana. He could hear Grey's cold laugh, but louder, and seemingly closer. "Found you, worm." Suddenly Grey was standing in front of him. He instinctively leapt back just as Grey sent an Anima blast at him. Weena only just merged with the mana flow as it passed, but nevertheless, he could feel the raw power in it.

He bent some of the mana back at Grey in a massive blue blast, though it was negated by Grey's cape at thought it was a mere squirt of water. By then Weena had charged up to him, sword at the ready, striking down on him. Grey's own sword whipped out of its scabbard. Blue, red and orange sparks erupted as steel met steel. Weena struggled to hold on. For a horrible moment it felt as though Grey would overpower him in the strength field, that his back would be snapped in half. But then they both fell back, in their respective fighting guards. "Bring it on," Weena muttered through clenched teeth.

***

Back in the outside world, the TR stronghold suddenly shuddered. The members who weren't injured/already recovered from yesterday's events rushed out of the stronghold only to see a terrifying sight. It seemed as though it was the apocalypse. Earth elementals* were going crazy, smashing everything in their paths, rocks fell from the sky, hot as meteorites, and all the animals were going crazy. Whirlwinds whipped up at the slightest breeze, and debris was hurled everywhere. Just as the TR members were about run out and face the disaster, there was a loud roar** from inside the stronghold. The TR members stopped as the remembered their fellow comrades safety and ran inside.

***

Weena parried another immensely strong blow from Grey before diving to the side to avoid an extremely hot mana blast. He charged in and started rapidly slashing, hacking, and chopping, all of which that were expertly parried by Grey. White sparks flew this time, and Weena leapt on to a wall and rebounded off it, like a missile at Grey. Grey aimed a mana blast at him, though with his mana bender skills*** Weena just added it to his attack. Not that it made any difference though. Grey expertly blocked it with a mana shield, then parried Weena's follow-up with his sword.

They slashed, hacked, swiped, jumped, blasted and speared their way around Grey's demense, eventually ending up in the throne room. Weena watched Grey intently, he knew he couldn't underestimate him. Then suddenly Grey did what Weena least expected, and charged. His sword burned grey fire as he swiped. Weena only just had the time to empower his sword with blue flames in time to block it. With a lot of the weight reduced, he still felt it. Weena ducked under Grey's arm and ended up behind him, the first advantage he'd had the whole battle. It was short-lived, however, as Grey smacked him in the face with a roundhouse kick. Weena doubled back and dropped his sword; it stopped burning. "You are weak," Grey sneered as he leant back a little. Weena could see him charging up something, and he leapt back. Just as Grey attacked.

Weena could feel the dark energy pass through him, so unstable and powerful. He was blasted back in to the cavern/castle wall hard, and fell to the ground. He could hear Grey's chuckle. "Weak, I said. WEAK!" he spat out the last word. "And you thought you could defy me..."

Then Weena did what he never thought he would be able to do, he slowly got up. "What?!" Grey exclaimed, "You should be dead!" And with that, he aimed another dark blast at Weena. Weena knew what he was about to do would have extremely undesirable consequences for him, But hey, he thought, I'm not the only one that has abilities. TR, I know you can do this. Farewell, for now. He then made the choice to shoot Grey's absorbed energy right back at him.

Their beams met in midair, lightning cracked around, illuminating the whole place for the first time in many years. The stone-cold servants advancing on Weena immediately fled the light, and that that was the last feeling of pleasure he thought he'd ever have. "NO! This is not possible!" shouted Grey as Weena's beam began smothering Grey's pushing it back. And then Weena "exploded", blasting Grey back, his body overloading with the raw power flooding through him. As he lay on the floor, consciousness leaving him, he had the strength for one last mana-infused word, his final chosen safeguard.

"Farewell..."

* The Klasthe gemerald is one of the 8 base elemental crystals, the one of Earth. It being destroyed disrupted all earthly order among elementals and the weather. Earth-based mages will also find that they have lost their powers. (The 8 base elements are Water, Earth, Fire, Air, Energy, Ice, Light and Darkness. All biological things are technically from the Earth, so all animals are technically of the Earth element)
** The members infected from the deathworms have woken! What they have become is for you guys to choose.
*** Weena was originally a knight, before he found a mana gemerald. He accidentally absorbed it and gained his mana powers. He then decided to study, and developed his powers along with his warrior skills. His abilities allow him to control and manipulate mana to a certain extent. He is even able to find the spirit of a person in the mana flow and return it to its body. Though if he is overpowered... well, let's just say we don't want that. Even he does not know the full extent of his abilities, or what, in fact that gemerald was. (Storyline! :o)

Note: Sorry for Godmodding guys, I just felt like adding something new to the story, the new goal of Grey and a new complication. If you don't want this to happen, then D:. If you're alright with it, then go team TR!

by **Charon** Wed Jan 13, 2010 6:49 am

Grey lay on the floor in the middle of his throne room. Smouldering lacerations covered his body. Slowly, the newly deformed figure rose to his feet. He steadily strode over to the unconscious body of Weena, the White Knight. "You... have proven stronger than I had expected. But in the end... you were still no match... for me." Grey pointed his finger at the still body and unleashed the Anima within him. Weena's body pulsed white for a few moments as if it were defying the magic, and then it faded to grey once more.

Grey closed his eyes in the throne room and opened them in Klasthe. While the world was giving in to chaos all around him, he focused on the spot where the Klasthe Gemerald had been. Using his power of Anima, he reversed the flow of time on that exact spot. Slowly, the shards of the Gemerald began to form the powerful stone once more, until it had returned in its entirety. A few more seconds and the world might have imploded due to the imbalance of mana. Grey teleported back to his palace and sat down in his large stone throne, sighing softly.

(Ok, while this was a good addition to the storyline and I enjoyed it, please, no more natural disasters or messing with the elemental balance. One time is interesting, but any more and it gets repetitive and annoying.)

by Guest Wed Jan 13, 2010 11:31 am

Back in the TR stronghold, the TR members rushed back in only to be greeted by the apprehensive snarls of the giant ugly were-deathworms*. They each stood at a whopping ten feet tall, an ugly mixture of human and deathworm bodies. They even had stumpy arms and legs, as well as their deathworm features. There were a few rags of clothes still on their bodies after the transformation, though they were the only things left. They had lost their humanity.

For a minute the TR members stood blankly, then they charged.

* The TR members that were bitten and infected by the deathworms.

by Kaotic Wed Jan 13, 2010 11:56 am

/ /: The Forest of Klasthe

"WEENNNNA! WHERE ARE YOU!"
He got telenapped*
Grey won't let this happen, he will come back... he will fix the Gemerald right?
Well if he doesn't want his current rule destroyed, he probably would

I'll have to take the risk..

Kaotic went to the nearest tree, and focused his Klasthe powers to the bark of this tree, and his skin blended in completely, he also sent his mana powers to the same flow of the tree, to make him blend in to mana benders like Grey, who could smell him out.
And he played the AFK Waiting game .__.

~^_^^~

It had felt like a day that Kao had waited, yet it had been an hour, when Grey suddenly appeared, but he looked different.
First he was covered in disgusting scabby burns all over his body.
Second he looked.. tired.. or depleted rather like.

Kao watched silently, as Grey set to work on the Gemerald
Thank goodness
Grety lifted his head as if he seemed to have heard EoM speaking, but then lowered it to finish the Gemerald.
Kao focused on Grey's busy mind, ever so carefully, not to alert Grey.
He found the Teletrail**.

Once Grey had finished the Gemerald, they was a sudden lull, as if the peace was settling right back into place.
Grey looked straight towards Kao's hiding place, as if he saw through him... but instead of his usual sad like smirk... he looked.. weakly irritated.
Grey Teleported back to his Fortress/cave, and Kao muttered slightly in Klasthe, at the exact moment Grey left, and there was a silver trail floating in the air (the Teletrial) ever so transparent, that you almost lost sight of it now and then.
I gotta get this back to the Stronghold as fast as possible
and with that kao began the trip of the telejump

*A teleportation kidnap!
** The finest track left from teleportation, Mind bending is the best way to find this track, though it is very risky.

by **Ryzaa** Wed Jan 13, 2010 11:59 am

Ryzaa awoke to find his world dark.
It took him a moment to realise he couldn't open his eyes.
He tried again, the strength required to do such a simple task seemed to be lacking.
It started to get brighter.
He began to make out the source of the light - his large window on the wall opposite.
As it got brighter he began to notice other things, the purple blur in the corner, the out-of-focus desk on the far wall, the black shape just to the left of his head.
He tried to sit up.
He head swam.
He lay back down.
He waited for his vision to clear and tried again.
He made it to a sitting position this time.
Cecilia looked at him with her glowing red eyes.
Fredrick raised his head from the corner.
"I think I'm okay..." he said, more to himself than to the zards.
He looked around himself.
It was sunset outside his window, but something did not seem right about this sunset.
The sky was redder than normal, there seemed to be things falling from the sky.
Ryzaa couldn't quite make out what they were from his position.
His boots were by his bed, his jacket was hanging on it's hood on the back on his door, his two flintlocks were on his desk and his weapons were stowed back on his rack, he noticed.
His FrostReaver was where he had left it and his PeaceBringer that he had taken with him to the forest was also put away.
He got up slowly.
Put on his boots and walked over to the door, retrieving his flintlocks as he went.
He pulled on his jacket and left, the two zards following closely behind.

~

He headed down the corridor, passing empty room after empty room.
"Where is everyone?" he said to himself.
Fredrick looked quizzical, or as quizzical as a zard could look.
Then he heard it, a loud roar, followed by loud, but quieter than than the initial roar, and numerous snarls.
Followed again by an even louder roar than the first, many voices together as one.
He then heard running, charging.
He too started to run, the Doomfire slowly engulfing him as he did so.
Around the corner and down the stairs.
He was appalled what what he saw, TR were fighting.
Fighting among themselves!
The wounded were deformed, they showed both human and deathworm qualities - were-deathworms?
Ryzaa counted one hundred, give or take.
Against another six hundred clan members.
He knew had to do something.
"STOP!" he bellowed, everyone in the room froze.
Ryzaa was radiating Doomfire, last night's performance was nothing to the look he had now.
He began to glow.
A faint blue.
He noticed out of the corner of his eye, Cecilia was also glowing.
What was happening? He had no idea.
Suddenly, taking everyone, including himself, completely by surprise, a huge wall of Doomfire, taking up the whole room, erupted forth from within him, he glowed brighter.
A blinding flash.
The worms were gone, in there place the wounded clan members, healed completely.
All battle damage was gone.
Any wound a member had had was found to be gone.
It was over, well and truly.
Stunned silence, Ryzaa stopped glowing and collapsed, seemingly unconscious.
His Doomfire burnt out.
Cecilia was pulsating slightly.
The sky had cleared outside, to reveal a beautiful evening sky.
Then a final roar, one of such intensity Cecilia gave a yelp and ran to hide between Fredrick's legs, a roar of triumph.

(No more worms. Deal with it. Also, no more godmodding kthx? Grey is becoming way too easy to get too... it doesn't happen like that, so don't try to think it does. That's three people he's captured, one intentionally, one by surprise, one unintentionally. No more unless Charon sees fit, thank you.)
(Thankies, Ry. What he means, quite literally, is that everyone is producing ways to get to Grey out of thin air. Keep in mind that once we defeat Grey [if we do ;3] this RP is over. I have been trying to prolong the storyline as much as I can, but I'm going to need all of your help. Other than all that.... you've all been doing great, keep it up! ^^
CtS~
PS:*touches Ry's post*)

by **Juliana** Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:22 am

Juliana stumbled into the room where everyone else seemed to be. Her face was drawn and far whiter than usual, her gait uncertain, and her body was still wreathed in the dissipating remnants of blue mist: telling signs that she had been using magic, long and hard. What kind of magic was told by the bloody bandages wrapped along the length of her left forearm. A ripple of shock went through the crowd: everyone had seen Juli badly off, but this was a state that none of them had ever seen her in before. As she passed Ryzaa's unconscious form, she muttered, "I see you tried to reach the very edge of your ability. Now you sleep... Would that I could join you." Between the exhaustion, the archaic syntax, and the strange accent that had somehow crept into it, it was barely recognizable as Juli's voice.

"What happened?" gasped Winnie, rushing forward. Juliana staggered and fell, and Winnie only just made it in time to catch her. The younger healer sat on the floor, careful not to injure her considerably taller friend. When they were settled, and a number of curious onlookers had come to look closer, Winnie repeated her question: "What happened?"

"You remember how things stood when I left?" Juli began. "Risa was dead, and Charon was missing."

"And now?" Winnie prompted.

Juli took a deep breath. "Risa is dead, and Charon is missing." She held up a limp, tired hand. "Yes... it's the same... but let me tell you what happened in between."

The story she told was long, torturous, and archaic in language, but its essence was thus:
Juliana had carried Risa's body up to the bedroom they shared. She had cleaned it up a bit, and cast the small spell that their family used to avoid decay. It had occurred to her as she did that the spell was awfully similar in some ways to Anima, but that was irrelevant.

Risa had come in at about that time, as a spirit, as Juli had asked her to via their bond. Juli had taught her apprentice a very powerful spell to seek out a living being's... here she struggled to find the right word. Soul? Spirit? Identity? Whatever it was, the spell worked, whatever form that identity took. If a soul was there, they could find it.

They hadn't found Charon. They had searched all over Lore and well beyond it, had exhausted themselves utterly in the trying--they had weakened their bodies with so much magic, but they had found nothing except faint echoes, just traces, in the places he had lived.

At this point, Winnie cut in, sounding like she was trying not to cry. "So he's dead? If he isn't anywhere?"

Juli shook her head. "That worries me most of all. We searched for him among the dead. I would that we had found him... but no. Not living, not dead, 'tis as if he does not exist." A shudder began with her and passed outward at her words. "Were he dead, 'twere a small matter to find him, speak with him, to know what passed. Risa is dead, yet she sought with me. This is..." The words trailed off into silence. Juliana's eyes closed, and when she spoke one more time she was barely audible even to Winnie. "I must rest... I have done beyond what was safe." With that, she touched the diamond knife at her belt, and beyond that knew no more.

by **Cial** Sat Jan 16, 2010 1:05 am

Cial (well, Cial's physical form, not his soul or sane mind as it is in the link) ran into where Ryzaa was laying, motionless. It sank to its knees and grabbed his hand, laying it on a tattoo of a black fire on his forearm, mindlessly trying to suck in Doomfire*.

Cial moaned and groaned and sat, as people stared. His all black eyes stared at Ryzaa, waiting.

*Cial now has 2 Tattoos, that only disappear when the element is added into his body through them, pulling his spirit back into the body and out of the link. One is Doomfire, the other is a star.

by **Hunter Reckoning** Sat Jan 16, 2010 10:06 am

After Hunter heard what Juli said, he decided he couldn't take it anymore. He ran up to his janitor's closet. He wrote a note and strapped it to Yolky's leg, then sent him out of the room. Hunter then took out his golden flintlock, and put it in his mouth. He couldn't stand knowing that he had caused all of this. He was thinking of all of the innocent lives he had endangered because of this. He thought of all the people he killed because of this, he thought of- *Bang!* His finger slipped.

Everyone in the hall was pitching ideas about where Charon could be when they heard something. *Bang, thump.* Everyone stopped talking when they heard the shot fired from a pistol. They looked around to see if anyone was hurt. No one was hurt.

Vamparagon was in his room pacing. His room was right down the hall from Hunter's room. *Bang, thump.* Vamp stopped, and went to the door, He looked down the hall both ways, then he saw, coming out from under Hunter's door, was a small trickle of blood, and a small cloud of smoke. He looked down and saw Yolky at his feet, with a note tied to his ankle. He grabbed the note, and started reading it while he was walking down the hall. Even before he opened the door, he knew exactly what had happened. Hunter had killed himself.

by **Juliana** Sat Jan 16, 2010 10:58 am

The gunshot was the first thing Juli had heard for some time, or so it seemed to her. She raised her head, feeling surprisingly refreshed. How long have I been out? she wondered.

As the sleep-fog cleared from her mind, the import of what she had heard began to dawn on her. Someone had fired a gun. Inside the fortress? She shuddered and began to lever herself up into a sitting position. Around her, all was dead silence and had been since hearing the gun's sharp report and the softer sound of impact that had followed it. People were glancing at one another, wordlessly asking what had happened. Winnie caught sight of Juli waking and silently helped her to her feet.

Vamp appeared at the top of the stairs, a rolled-up scrap of paper clutched in one hand. It was his voice that broke the silence: "Hunter Reckoning is dead."

The silence broken, everyone gasped and began whispering urgently to one another. How? Why? Who killed him? Vamp held up his hands for quiet. "I'm sure you all have questions," he called, raising his voice to be heard above the din. "I will try to answer, but YOU HAVE TO QUIET DOWN AND LISTEN!"

The fact that Vamp had a very good point eventually filtered through to the frightened assembly of Regulars. They slowly quieted down, much as a classful of children might. When they were reasonably quiet, their leader started again, unrolling the paper. "Hunter wrote this note--" he explained distractedly. "He sent it to me by--well, this is Hunter Reckoning we're talking about; he sent it by carrier egg." Vamp cleared his throat. "Anyway..." He consulted the note briefly. "This says here that he felt incredibly guilty about betraying us, getting a few of us killed, almost getting nearly ALL of us killed... and decided he couldn't live with that."

The storm of conversation burst back into full life at that. Does that mean he killed himself? How could he? What was he thinking? It was quite some time later when Vamp finally had the opportunity to speak again. "Yes... Hunter killed himself." His gaze ranged across the assembled crowd, meeting the eyes of those trained as healers, making sure they would understand his next words. "His body is still in his room, right where he died. I only checked to be sure he wasn't breathing." Winnie and Juli nodded and sprinted towards Hunter's room. The leader thought for a moment, then decided there was nothing more to say. "That is all," he finished, and descended the stairs.

*****

Even if she hadn't known already which of these rooms Hunter had lived and died in, Juliana thought she would have had a hard time getting it wrong. At the moment, there was no other room in this hallway with a small puddle of scarlet liquid spreading slowly from its door. As they drew nearly level with the puddle, they both slowed down. They knew perfectly well that blood is slippery, and slipping in it was more embarrassment than they really wanted. Besides, slapstick comedy (which such a slip would be) did not exactly fit well with the moment before seeing the body of a dead friend.

Juli put a hand on the doorknob, but did not open the door. Just because he's dead doesn't mean we should be rude to him... "Hunter," she called softly, her voice echoing slightly in a way the hallways did not normally allow for. "May we come in?"

Winnie stayed back a few paces. She had known Juli all her life, but had only learned about this side of her friend fairly recently. Juli's powers still made her uncomfortable sometimes... such as now, for instance. At least she knew, from experience, that she wouldn't hear Hunter's ghost answer; that would be a little too much for her. It was clear fairly soon that he replied in the affirmative, since Juli turned the doorknob and pushed open the door.

Neither girl could quite suppress a gasp of horror at the tableau that greeted them.

The cramped space of the janitor's closet that Hunter had inexplicably chosen to live in still retained obvious clues to its normal look. The bed up against one wall, the trunk jammed between the bed and the corner, the long pole with an egg on the end, resting against another corner--that much was clearly how things stood usually. But these normal things were noted at the periphery, if at all, because right in the middle of the scene lay the body.

As she looked at it, Juli could almost see how every detail had come to be. Hunter's hand, still hooked into the trigger guard of his gun, had been jolted away to his side, probably by the force of impact. It was fairly clear how he had held the gun, because blood was still flowing out of the back of his neck. The pattern of blood spray combined with the position of the lead slug now embedded in the wall told her that the bullet had ripped through the back of his throat, most likely killing him instantly. She could see it perfectly in her mind's eye, from every angle, every bit as detailed as her flawless memories...

The healer sank to her knees beside Hunter's body, tears creeping slowly down her face, swallowing repeatedly in an attempt to stop herself from throwing up. "How could you?" she sobbed. Then, in a more distant, echoing voice, she repeated herself. "Hunter, how could you do that to yourself?"

She could see him the moment she spoke; he stood alone, in one of the blue, misty fields she knew so well, a sincere, broad grin plastered across his face. "It was easy, Juli," he laughed, as if he couldn't help himself. There was not a single trace of bitterness or sarcasm anywhere in his manner, she was astonished to realize. Hunter was honestly ecstatic--but why?!

"I've never seen anyone just killed and that happy," she informed him. "Wasn't it you who committed suicide out of sheer guilt just a few minutes ago, or do I have the wrong information?"

He hung his head guiltily, though he still couldn't disguise his euphoria. "Sorry, yes, that was me..."

"Why did you do that?"

Hunter looked up, his eyes fairly glowing. "It was just time..."

Juli was beginning to think that she was being left in the dust. "Time for what?"

"See for yourself," her friend replied.

As if on cue, Yolky meandered through the door. Juli and Winnie stared in baffled amazement as the little egg shuddered, then walked around to the back of the room and began trying to shove Hunter's body across the floor. For obvious reasons, it did not make much progress. "What's he doing?" whispered Juli, still in contact with Hunter.

"Help him!" Hunter hissed urgently in reply.

Juli blinked in astonishment, and picked up Hunter's body. Yolky bobbed in what might almost be described as a nod of thanks, and marched out of the room. The healers didn't need any more prompting; they followed that egg.

*****

When Yolky rushed, shaking, into the main hallway where most of The Regulars were still gathered, everyone went silent. When Juli and Winnie appeared close behind him, carrying Hunter's corpse together, everyone backed off to make room for them. Near the middle of the room, the healers put the body on the ground and stepped a few paces away. Their attention, and soon everyone else's, was riveted on Yolky.

The egg was shaking hard now, and with a resounding crack the shell broke. Out flopped a large, wet blob with legs. It was mindblowing for Juli to watch. The egg that had been Hunter's constant companion was... no longer an egg. What it was now, she couldn't tell. Based on the tenor of the whispers around the room, neither could anyone else.

Apparently it wasn't finished with its astonishing transformation, either. Strange protrusions seemed to push against the blob and then disappear, as if something inside was fighting furiously to get out, and the entire mass grew steadily larger even as the Regulars watched it. It grew pretty quickly, too, reaching roughly the size of a human being in less than a minute and not stopping there. As everyone stared avidly, for longer and longer, the blob kept growing. Finally, when it was by Juli's guess about three times the size of the average human, the blob seemed to tear open, and a beautiful bird unfolded itself. It was feathered brown and white, shaped like an eagle but far, far larger than any eagle ever was. It inclined its large, proud head and inspected Hunter's body, then nodded--several people gasped, thinking it was eating--and turned slightly to look at Juli. She looked back, utterly astonished by the change, the beauty, and the fact that it was staring at her specifically.

"This is something that happens from time to time," Hunter explained. Juli was still the only one who could hear him, she knew, so she just had to hope he would keep talking so that she wouldn't look insane answering questions no one else could hear. "I've had several generations of eggs, all called 'Yolky.' They're sort of bound to me, since I'm the egg lord, and they can't hatch unless that bond breaks. So whenever it's time for Yolky to hatch out, I have to die--that's the only way."

Yolky, or whatever he was called now that he was hatched, reached out and picked up Juli in one massive talon. He took Hunter's body in the other, and with a wild cry launched himself into the air. Thanks to Cial, there was no front door to block his way; the bird, with his passengers, shot out into the night sky.

by **Hunter Reckoning** Mon Jan 18, 2010 2:01 pm

"AHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Juli screamed. Yolky was flying faster than anything Juli has ever seen before... especially ridden on. "Where are we going?!?!" Juli asked.
"You'll see." Yolky slowly stopped, then dropped Juli, and Hunter's dead body on the ground. When Juli began to stand up, Yolky stopped her. When Juli looked down, she saw that it was a drop off, leading into a cloud. When Juli turned, she saw dozens more eagles just like Yolky. "Um Hunter, how many Yolkys are there?" Hunter thought for a second. "Well, the one we just rode on is number 119."
"And why didn't you tell me about this before?"
"It didn't cross my mind, a bullet did."
"But, why did you keep these creatures a secret? No one else knows about them."
"Well, lemmy give you a brief summary. They're called Doused Phoenixs, they all share the same memories, thus they all know you, and everything thats been going on. Thus, they want to help us."
"Um, what do you mean help us?"
"Well, they can look at small fragments of the future, and the one that they saw, was a very large and violent war. And the soldiers were grey." Juli was being led by Yolky, and Yolky was holding Hunter's dead body. "So you're saying, there's going to be a war?"
"Unlike any war the world has ever seen."
"And were going to have the help of 119 giant eagles?"
"Basically, yes, we are."
"And how are you going to help?"
"Well, I've died a lot in the past couple centuries, and that means, I've come back a lot too."
"Ok, so how did you keep on coming back?"
"With this." Yolky gestured to a shrine with his head.
"And how does that work exactly?" As if on cue, Yolky set Hunter's dead body in the shrine, then made a sort of whistling noise. Juli felt banging on the ground, then an eagle that was 3 times the size of Yolky came out of a cave. "That, Juli, is Yolky number one." Juli's knees started shaking. It was by far the largest bird she has ever seen. Instead of being brown and white, he was a shining gold. It had large ram shaped horns on its head, and it's eyes were a beautiful white. And when Juli looked down at it's chest, it had a very large green gemerald set into it. When the bird saw Hunter, it simply walked over, and breathed on him, the bird's breath was a sparkly white mist. As soon as it did that, the bullet hole in the back of his head, came back together, and then from the direction they came, a red mist spiraled through the air like a tornado, then it went quietly back into Hunter's mouth. Then When Juli looked at Hunter on those blue misty fields, he disappeared, then Hunter took in a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, He looked confused. Then Yolky number 119, sat down next to him, and layed an egg. The egg soon cracked, then grew feet. It stood up, and a strange blue electricity shot between them, then Hunter's eyes brightened. He looked at Juli. "It worked." Then Hunter stood up, and said. "C'mon Yolkys, we have to prepare for a war." After he said that, all of the birds understood, Hunter picked up Yolky #120 with one hand, then grabbed Juli's hand with the other. He then ran for the cliff. "Hunter...Hunter?...HUNTER!!!!!!" He then jumped off, and right when he did that, every single bird on that cliff, jumped after them, with Yolky number 1 at the front. He flew down, and caught Juli and Hunter out of the air, then threw them up in the air, to catch them on his back. "WOW, YOLKY NUMBER ONE IS FAST!"
"DONT CALL HIM YOLKY NUMBER ONE!" Hunter yelled.
"CALL HIM TRITOCRY!" They then flew off toward the TR fortress, going faster than anything, even Yolky number 119.

by Guest Mon Jan 18, 2010 2:34 pm

Weena slowly opened his eyes, wincing at the sudden light. It took a moment for his recently inactive senses to realise that he was floating in the mana stream, the blue and gold particles flying past him like liquid dust. He peacefully floated in the stream for a few hours, until his brain kicked in and decided to return all of his memories. He suddenly shuddered, displacing a group of particles, though others quickly filled their spots. It's like a bloodstream, he thought to himself, It flows throughout the universe, keeping everything alive and balanced, plus it also has that nifty little feature. He slowly floated himself towards a distinct trail of particles which appeared to be moving at a much accelerated rate. The express lane, Weena thought to himself, as that was what he tended to call it. The "express lane" as a trail of particles which distributed all over the universe, as Weena had learnt in his many years of advanced mana bender training. He spent an entire sixteen months in the mana-verse* studying it and perfecting his mana-traveller** skills.

It took Weena almost exactly an hour to pinpoint the location of his physical form, back on Lore. He could also sense a large gathering of powerful life forms somewhere in the general direction of the TR stronghold, though that'd have to wait. With practiced speed (16 months of practice, actually), Weena "zoomed in" to his physical form in Grey's Demesne. Grey's signature trace was nowhere to be found, so in his hurry to return to the physical world, he quickly hurried to his body, instead of warily making sure that everything was safe. He suddenly shot into an extreme speed, zooming towards his body in a blur. I'm going to set things straight, he told himself. Let's do this.

*Pizooh*

A sudden beam of shining grey hit Weena squarely in the chest, sending him flying. He quickly regained his balance, flying upright, only to see what he feared most. "I had a hunch you'd set a protective charm." It was Grey. "Thought you could outwit me, did you?" he asked rhetorically as he fired another beam of solid grey at Weena, so strong it looked almost silver. Mana abilities were powered up tenfold in the mana stream, making every attack much more lethal and dangerous. If he took another hit he'd most likely be a goner.

Weena flew sideways to avoid the blast, feeling the raw power of it in the particles it blew in to him. He returned the blow, firing an intense beam of hot blue energy at Grey. Grey formed a silver sphere around himself, negating the blast with a great bluish grey flash. He then leant forward in a double-fisted strike, shooting twin beams of pure unstoppable silver at Weena, who flew up and came crashing down on it, breaking it into nothingness. A blue beam took it's place, flying straight towards Grey at terminal velocity. Grey air-roundhouse-d, his blast crashing through Weena's and, though it kept hurtling straight towards him at exactly the same speed. It loomed up higher than 50 metres, a great silver wall of destruction. Weena quickly gathered the mana around him and it formed as a spear, which he directed right into it, shattering the wall, though Grey was nowhere to be seen.

People seldom look up. Those words flashed into his mind and he looked up just in time, to see Grey hurtling down with the force of a tornado, silver engulfing his body. Weena only just dodged to the side, and life seemed to move in slow motion as Grey hurtled past him, missing him by a few mere centimetres. He sent a spiralling blue beam hurtling down at Grey, and though it engulfed him for a second, he came flying out of it unscathed.

Weena then dived down to where Grey was, flying blue sparks behind him. Grey mirrored his movements perfectly, and they both spiralled around each other upwards, exchanging behemoth blows. A plan formed in Weena's mind, as what they were doing right now seemed to follow a pattern; his subconscious did it all for him, therefore he had time to think. He quickly left the spiral, zooming a good eighty metres away from Grey, facing him. "So the hero of this piece wants to end it in a good old one versus one," Grey spat, his voice eerily echoing everywhere "Face it, you're nothing, weakling, nothing but a pawn in the big picture. You're not even a Scion!"

"Your mind games won't work on me, Grey," Weena replied, "And I've decided that I've had enough of you."
"What are you going to do, run like the coward you are? Or try to get rid of me?" Grey mocked.
"Both, in fact," Weena replied confidently, and was pleased that Grey dropped his guard long enough to see his reaction. Grey's features quickly rearranged themselves into his usual sneer.
"You're out of your mind." And with that, Grey attacked.

The blast, originating from his hands, was pure silver, of pure energy, and stronger than any of his other attacks so far. It flew faster than any eagle ever could, packed the power of a million lightning bolts, and was fifty times scarier than any charging bull. Only it was coming from a man a hundred times scarier than a meteorite. As the silver beam flew towards Weena in seemingly slow motion (reflexes!***), he put the main part of his plan in to motion and fired right back. His beam matched Grey's in every respect besides the colour, taking the colour of Weena's trademark bright energetic blue.

What happened next Weena did not know exactly, as the giant flash the beams created when they hit was enough to blind anyone's senses. However, he felt the power of the beams ripple through the air in the form of the mana particles, and the heat from it would've crisped him to a cinder if he was in the physical world. Not to say it didn't hurt. He could feel Grey pushing and he pushed back as hard as he could, trying to force back Grey's massive force with his****. It was hard, and it took all of his willpower and strength, but eventually he could feel Grey succumbing to the weight of it. Twenty-four months mana attacks training are so for the win, Weena thought to himself as he gave a final burst of energy. It pulsed through his beam, and in one quick moment, it had covered Grey's. "Not again..." Grey almost complained as Weena's beam blasted him back.

That should keep him incapacitated for a few minutes, Weena thought, But now is not the time to give in to my weariness. I've got to escape this place. With a final loop and a glance at Grey, Weena swooped down towards his body.

***
//: Grey's Demesne

Weena opened his eyes, now freed from the Anima which had, until the incapacitation of Grey, rendered his physical body useless. The absence of light prevented Weena from being blinded instantly, and he quickly jumped up. Taking in his surroundings, there was no other living (or undead) being, save for the Anima'd statues of Charon and Shadow. Weena pushed back the thought of taking them with him, the would face their own destinies. I don't have the strength to carry them anyway, he told himself. Anyway, I'd best be off. And with that, he teleported away.

***
//: Forest of Klasthe

Weena picked his wet face up off the ground, mud dripping from his eyelids. He felt much weaker than usual as he tried to stand up on his shaking feet, his eyes adjusting to the sunlight. Gah, he thought, struggling to maintain his already clumsy balance, That battle took it all out of me, I've only got a few drops of mana left in me. Plus I seem to regenerate relatively slowly, I haven't wasted this much energy in one go before, ever.

A sudden shadow passed over where he was, disorienting him for a second. Gaining the sense to look up, he saw what he thought was a hallucination. Doused Phoenixes. All one hundred and ninteen of them.

* The manaverse and the universe co-exist together, both relying on the other. The manaverse is like the mana bloodstream of the universe, supplying mana to everywhere. Without it, the existence of mana will ease in the universe. Likewise, if something catastrophic happens to the universe, the manaverse will fall apart. Mana benders and dead people will often find themselves in a stream in the manaverse, though only mana benders have any influence on where they are going. Mana abilities are immensly magnified in the mana stream, so users must be extremely careful. The manaverse contains a very ligh level of mana ability-affecting properties, and mana benders have worked for centuries to discover them all.
** Mana travelling is a 16 month course taken by mana benders to learn of the infinite locations in the manaverse.
*** :O
**** Two giants being controlled by two people, MQ reference? :O

What I like to imagine as the background music during my battle with Grey. Love it.

Those pics up there are just to show the kind of firepower involved. ^_^

by Guest Wed Jan 20, 2010 4:17 am

MrSebi sighed; this sucked, he had only recently joined TR, and a few days later he had found himself frozen in time. He figured that the anima spell that that magician dude had cast had reacted strangely with him, instead of de-freezing directly like everyone else; he had only started to thaw slowly. Granted, by now he was nearly unfrozen and (despite the fact that he was still a little stiff) perfectly fine.
He brought out his pencil and prepared to draw* a portal to the base when he heard a loud noise; looking overhead he saw dozens of large birds flying towards the base. Quickly, he climbed a tree to get a better view; it was amazing, a hundred and ninety-nine Doused Phoenixes and what seemed to be two people and an egg riding on one of them.
He heard a bang and saw a large flash appear far away and what seemed to be a figure falling from it. He began to run towards its location, when he was knocked back by an invisible force field. Recognizing the forest as Klasthe, he realized he could do nothing. He attempted to draw a new portal, however nothing happened. The force field seemed to have temporally jammed his pencil. Sighing, he began to slowly walk towards the base.

-Just my luck……….**

Anderson was walking briskly through the forest while reading his mission brief; the Organization had picked up on a portal to the Null Void being formed near here. Being the closest agent, he was the one dispatched to investigate and (if need be) destroy any Outsiders present. He put away the briefing and picked his book out of the satchel, it was a book from another dimension. Sadly most of the cover was burnt off, however he could tell it was a detective story by some written by some knight
He had read about ten pages when a loud screeching alerted him, looking towards the direction of the noise; he saw a hundreds of giant birds flying towards a direction.

-Heh, that can’t be good***

Anderson pulled out his swords out his sleeves and dashed down the road in the same direction as the birds.

-Hope nobody is hurt!

*literally, Mrsebi has the Pencil of Endless scribbles which can reshape reality; anything he draws in the air becomes real! (He is a DoodleMancer)
** Green Italics are what the character is thinking
*** Anderson has an Irish accent, nuff said

by Guest Wed Jan 20, 2010 9:20 am

Gazing up at the sky through slitted eyelids, Weena realised that there were two people riding the largest of the Pheonixes, one male and one female. Squinting as hard as he could while his balance returned, he noticed that the male held an egg in his hand, meaning he could only be Hunter. But who his companion was he did not know, that is, until he saw that they were diving. They look like they're diving towards me, his addled brain tried to think, But why would they? It's not like they noticed me. Wait, I forgot, does teleportion create a flash? Honestly, I need to get myself together, my memory is failing like a- His next thoughts were extinguished as a gale force wind suddenly came crashing down on Klasthe, carrying him all the way across a clearing until a tree stopped his flight. Painfully. As the pain dimmed, he looked up to see only the most amazing sight.

Hunter and Juli themselves were riding the most magnificent bird he'd ever seen. It's a Doused Phoenix, he told himself. He'd read about them, but believed that they were merely a myth. Now one was flying above him, with another hundred or so circling above.

"Weena!" Hunter called, his voice somehow magnified above the roaring wind "What are you doing here? No, wait, what happened to to you?"
Using the last drops of his slowly regenerating power, Weena magnidied his voice to an audible tone. "It was... Grey. I only barely survived." He gasped in a breath, seemingly trying to foce it in. "I'm really weak now, my power is completely exhausted. Pretty soon, I fear I may pass out. I need to... get to the TR stronghold, and fast."
"Then perhaps we can take you there," Juli said, he voice soft yet loud, giving one the impression that many a thing has happened to her recently. Both sad and joyful things. Hunter turned to her, and they had a quick conversation inaudible to Weena's ears. They turned back again and Hunter spoke.
"Okay, we'll take you with us, though we need to hurry. I have a feeling that TR is in grave danger, and my Pheonixes are needed. Quickly, hop on Tritocry!"

Using his last vestiges of strength, Weena gathered his power and took an immense leap up on to Tritocry. As soon as he touched down, he collapsed, though Juli only just caught him.

"Gah, I can't... can't do anything but talk," Weena mumbled, his lips numb. "It was Grey... I only... just escaped. He had Charon and Shadow... I think he's planning... something... terrible. I can't do anything... about it any... way because I need... to power-charge soon."
"Power-charge?" Hunter asked, completely ignoring the meaning in what he just said.
"Meditate in the... manaverse. It restores my powers quickly, and I'm able to travel around... and help solve spiritual and... mana errors to the... extent of my... ability. My body will... also... provide a bridge... between here and the... manaverse, so if you want to recharge... as well, or find... something in there... feel free to use me."
"Hm," Juli muttered.
"Huh?" Hunter asked.
"Oh, nothing," she replied. "Oh look, we're here!"

***

After landing on the roof of the stronghold, Weena had been helped to an unnamed empty room where he sat down with his legs crossed. After setting up a basic protective charm over the room, Hunter and Juli had gone to do whatever they were doing, leaving Weena peacefully alone. He took a deep breath and his eyes flashed blue, signalling that his spirit had left his physical body and was wandering the manaverse.*

* Just to let you guys know, the complete and utter ultimate goal of a mana bender is to bring their physical body in to the manaverse. Achieving that, that mana bender will achieve immortality and powers beyond almost anything.

by Guest Wed Jan 20, 2010 4:07 pm

MrSebi kept trudging through the forest as his mind went back to what had previously happened:

(Flashback)

MrSebi impales an orc as another one jumps towards him, ducking; he draws* a slash and has it cleave the second orc. The area is being torn to shreds as orcs are fighting other TR members; spells are flying in all directions. Swinging his katana; he slashes open another orcs chest, causing the orcs organs to burst out. Suddenly he notices a man in a suit teleport onto the battlefield. Sensing the danger; MrSebi draws a portal and steps through it, then everything goes blank.

(End flashback)

MrSebi gets knocked down into the mud as a figure runs at breakneck speed past him. Getting up, he frowns and starts chasing the figure.

-Ok, that’s it, IVE HAD ENOUGH!

*Mrsebi is a doodlemancer, he can draw things to life, and likewise, he has complete control over what the things he draws can do. As a downside however, his pencil sometimes reacts strangely with other spells, thus why he was trapped in the anima spell longer than the others. (PS: A slash in this case is simply a long sharp line)
** He can also change the size of his pencil at will
*** He can also erase things, I don’t think I need to explain things…..

by **Hunter Reckoning** Thu Jan 21, 2010 6:13 am

After Hunter had taken Weena to a room, and sent Juliana to the roof to feed the birds flowers, Hunter decided to tell Vamp the news. He walked to his room, down the hall from the janitors closet. While Hunter was passing the Janitors closet, he opened the door, and saw a bit of blood was still on the door. The blood instantly went back into Hunter's mouth. When he went to Vamps room, he tried to pull open the door but it was locked. So Hunter walked over to the left a bit so he was facing the wall, and broke through it. When Vamp looked over surprised, he said something Hunter was not expecting. "THE DOOR IS A PUSH DOOR!" Vamp yelled. "Im glad to see you too!" Hunter mocked with a large grin on his face.

by **Juliana** Thu Jan 21, 2010 7:34 am

Juliana had been perfectly happy to feed the magnificent phoenixes up on the roof. She stood there now, her skin silver-touched by the gentle moonlight, feeling her powers restoring themselves. Though she had been rested enough to wake when Hunter had killed himself, she was still not entirely back to her full potential. It was like discovering her powers had been in the first place, she thought idly; she had been steadily more aware of what was coming back, a sure sign in itself that her legend's instinct was being restored. A flicker of amusement crossed her mind as she recalled, with a Called warrior's perfect accuracy, all the hilarious misadventures that that same instinct had gotten her--and others--into. Being a legend wasn't ALL fun and games, but it was hardly all serious either...

Having finished her task, the girl opened the door leading back down into the fortress. She trotted down the stone staircase and was just a little ways into the hall when she heard the sound of breaking masonry. Hunter, she thought confidently. Only Hunter Reckoning would break down a wall inside the fortress when it was not otherwise in trouble, and she could tell by now that all was peaceful--or at least as peaceful as it ever got with such an eccentric group. At the moment she thought his name, however, she felt an electric jolt pass through her body. Instinct, and strong. She had to find Hunter. Given the fact that he had apparently just broken down a wall, she suspected it wouldn't be hard.

It wasn't; by serendipity the staircase she had come down was only a few turns away from Vamp's room. She arrived in time to see a massive hole in the wall, beyond which Vamp stood, yelling, "Yes, I'm happy to see you're alive, but you broke down my wall!"

Juli ignored the rest of the conversation, occupied with setting up a very subtle spell. It was limited by her own knowledge, but for this purpose it should be perfect. She closed her eyes briefly, and when she opened them her vision was changed. Looking at a person was like looking at a light through a foggy window: Vamp appeared to be outlined in pale, foggy blue-gray, getting paler and foggier the further from his body she looked. Hunter was much more interesting to look at, which told volumes to the observer before she even identified the details in the difference. As she looked closer, she could see that Hunter was surrounded by ghostly, human shapes. Her heart began to beat faster as she focused harder and the details of the figures became more discernible. I know these people... could it be, could it possibly be--?!

Finally, all the ambiguity dropped from just one face, the most telling face of all. Yes! It was a girl's face, one that Juliana knew well, with blue eyes sparkling with laughter and blond hair traced with the slightest hints of brown. It's her.

Juli dropped the spell abruptly, her task done. She noticed that Vamp and Hunter were staring at her--was I really acting that strange? she wondered--and looked quickly into Hunter's face. Yes, now that she knew, she could see the little signs...

"Cousin!" she greeted him, startling him into skittering backwards a few steps.

"'Cousin?'" he repeated, utterly nonplussed. "Did you just call me 'cousin?'"

"Absolutely," the young healer assured her eighteenth cousin one hundred eighty-three times removed. "I just checked, to be sure... Hunter, you're my cousin."

Vamp and Hunter both looked fairly shocked. "How did you--" began Vamp.

"What do you--" Hunter began at the same time. They cut themselves off and glanced in one another's direction. "Never mind," Hunter finished.

Juliana took pity on them; it was fairly clear that they were both about to explode from all the questions she had just raised. "I was starting to wonder, since the things Hunter can do were so similar to the things I can do... I wondered if he was related to me. And there's this spell I know how to do, I can see a person's ancestors if I have an idea of what to look for. So I used it, and what I saw..." She knelt down and began drawing in the layer of masonry dust on the ground. A rough family tree began to emerge. "See, this is the Sundry family. Here's the original Legend generation," she explained, pointing to a row of three symbols. Hunter crouched next to her, looking on through what looked like shock. "Between these three, there were only two children..." She drew a line down from each of the first two symbols, and at the end of each drew another symbol. "Here's Taylor Sundry, son of Emily Sundry and Vance Tanner. I'm descended from him." She pointed to the circle she had placed at the end of the other line. "And here's Katherine Sundry, daughter of Jacob Sundry. As I've just found out, you're descended from her."

Hunter stared at the family tree in front of him. "Wasn't that a very long time ago, though? I mean, I thought for sure the legends were already old long ago... surely there are thousands of people descended from this group now."

Juliana shook her head solemnly. "You were an only child, weren't you?" she suggested.

"Well, yes," Hunter admitted. "How'd you know?"

"Because I've looked..." Juli began to explain. "I've done a thousand things to check. Due to a family tendency to die young and have very small families, there are almost none of us. I can say, fairly safely, that you are the only living descendant of Katherine Sundry. And that means that out of the whole world, there are exactly eight living descendants of those siblings five thousand years ago."

Hunter blinked owlishly, clearly having trouble making sense of all this. "I don't believe it..." he whispered hollowly.

"But you do," corrected Juli. "I can tell. You know perfectly well that I'm telling the truth; you just can't take it." She turned to leave, then stopped and looked at Vamp. "You, on the other hand... am I correct in saying that you consider this all to be a cruel trick I'm playing on an unfortunate and gullible little boy?"

Too taken aback to answer, Vamparagon merely nodded.

Juli laughed. "He's neither so gullible nor so little as you believe," she informed the clan leader rather flippantly, so that it could almost be taken for a joke. With that, she did turn, and marched down the hall towards her own room, where Risa was waiting for her.

When Juli entered the room, Risa looked up from where she had been sitting on Juli's bed, staring contemplatively down at her own body. "You think I'm ready?" the younger girl asked by way of greeting.

"Absolutely," Juli replied, striding over to the bed; Risa stood and walked over closer to the corpse on her own bed. Now they had almost changed places, Juli sitting on her own bed, Risa standing over hers. "You were ready a while ago; there was just no opportunity for you to try."

Risa's eyes lit up at the compliment, and she bent over her dead body with new confidence. Juli would be watching to ensure that nothing went too badly wrong, but neither of them expected that Risa would need the help.

The ex-assassin's spirit called a small orb of blue-gold light to her fingertips, and set to work.

by **Ryzaa** Mon Jan 25, 2010 4:14 pm

(After the Battle of The Were-Worms)

Everyone watched tentatively as the physical form of Cial hunched over the unconscious body that was Ryzaa.
Nothing happened.
Ryzaa's Doomfire had burnt out.
Utterly and completely.
Ryzaa's usually deathly pale complexion had gone, leaving him fair.
His hair that had been vivid purple was now brunet.
His eyes had cleared from they're normally midnight blue to a more natural tone; not that the gathered crowd could tell, as he was unconscious.(*)
Silence.
"Get him to his room." Vamp ordered to the TR Members closest to him.
They quickly obliged and the ensemble slowly dispersed from the hall.

*Reference
*Reference #2 (from Charon)

~

(Events taking place here are in the hour before Hunter, Juli and Weena return. Ryzaa had been unconscious for about 3 days, with Risa dying the day of the Battle of The Worms, Hunter killing himself the following morning. The flight of Yolky taking all day, and all of the following day to get back with the other 118 Yolky's.)

Ryzaa awoke to once again find himself lying in his bed.
He got himself into a sitting position. He felt refreshed, like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders; yet somewhat weak.
He looked to the corner, the purple blue and the black shape were nowhere to be seen. He surveyed his surroundings as his vision cleared.
His jacket on the hook on the back of the door once again, his boots beside the bed, his belts on the rack by his desk. His duel flintlocks discarded on the desk yes again.
His eyes came to the window. The sight dazzled his eyes. What a beautiful sunset* over the mountains... he thought to himself; this was one of the reasons he had chosen a room in this wing of the Stronghold.
How long had he been out of it this time, he wondered.
He got up, collecting his belongings as he went.
He passed his weapons rack and paused.
Selecting his StarSword from the rack, he swung it a couple of times, feeling the perfect weight and balance in his grip, good old reliable StarSword, he thought.
He continued to the door, pulled on his jacket, opened to door and heard a muffled growl from under his bed. This shocked him momentarily, but he soon realized, he knew that sound.
A black head emerged from under the bed. It's scales** dazzling to look upon in the light of the sunset.
"What were you doing down there?" he asked in a crooning call.
Cecilia gave a happy grunt in greeting and trotted over to stand by his foot.
He bent and scooped her up in his arms, and left the room.

He decided he'd make his back back to the last place he remembered; the main hall.
He strode down the corridor, passing room after room, some abuzz with conversation, others not.
He made his way to the stairs. Beholding the empty hall before him.
"Where is everyone?" He asked no one in particular. Cecilia gave a grunt in answer.
The Stronghold doors were wide. "Maybe they're out there?" "Grunt" "Okay, lets go look."
He glided across the hall and out the massive door.
A crowd had gathered, staring towards the sky.
Fredrick was among them, he sidled over to him, placing Cecilia on the ground before his boots.
Fredrick grunted a greeting, but didn't shift his gaze, neither did anyone else.
Ryzaa now looked up and beheld a sight as never before.
Birds. Massive birds.
Eagles? he thought, but thought against it, they were too large to be eagles.
The bird at the head larger still; Golden, with massive ram hoods protruding from his skull.
Ryzaa thought that he could make out shapes of bodies mounted on the massive golden bird.
They were too far off yet for him to be sure, but they were coming in fast.

The birds were now close enough for Ryzaa to make out details, and numbers.
The first Rider upon the Golden bird was hooded, clad in green and holding an egg with legs. Hunter. Behind him sat a tall, brunette healer. Juli. And behind her, clad in white suit, with a hooded cloak and a massive broadsword sheathed on his back sat an exhausted looking Weena.

The birds were now overhead, they landed on the roof.
The gathered crowd outside the started to head that way.
Ryzaa followed at a distance, his zards close behind him, taking in the spectacle that he had just witnessed.
He made his way across the hall, up the stairs, through corridors, around to the second flight of stairs, up and around more corridors to the third flight*** that led up onto the roof.
He started up the flight, but stopped, as two members took a very exhausted-looking Weena down the flight and away to him room.
He was shortly followed by Hunter, who turned down the left-hand side of the corridor and disappeared.
Ryzaa waited a moment to see if he would be in anyone else's way as he ascended the staircase. When he decided he would not be, he went up.
Birds everywhere, members everywhere, Flaw was over to the side.
Ryzaa made his way there.
"Flawsie!" "Ryz?" "Yeah?" "You feeling okay?" Flaw seems concerned.
"Yeah why?" Ryzaa was puzzled.
"Maybe you should take a look in a mirror..." Flaw said.
"Later, what are these birds? Where's Pae? What's happening?"
"They're called 'Doused Phoenixes', that's all I know. Pae is asleep. We're standing here, that's what's happening."
"...Whatever, I'll go talk to Vam- wait what? Cacti can sleep?"
"Why not?" Flaw pouted.

Juli had been walking around tending to the Phoenixes when Ry had arrived on the roof.
She had now gone.
Ryzaa left Flaw and headed towards Vamp's room, noticing a gaping hole in
in the side of the wall, Vamp sitting on his bed, Hunter standing just inside the hole,
Juli standing just outside, bending over something Ryzaa could not make out.
Then Juli turned and walked past him. Not even looking at him, as if intent on what she was doing and where she was going.
Ryzaa moved over to the hole and peered in.
Vamp and Hunter looked confused. Then shook it off and greeted him.
"Ry! How are you feeling?" Vamp asked. "Hey Ry" said Hunter.
"Hey.. why is everyone asking that?" said Ry to Vamp.
"Look in the mirror," was Vamp's reply.
Ryzaa emerged into Vamps room through the hole in the wall.
Vamp muttered something about a 'push door' as he did so.
He moved over to Vamp's mirror.
"Oh..." he said at length, taking in the now brunet hair, fair complexion and bright blue eyes. "The doomfire burnt out.."
"We gathered as much, but is this permanent?" Vamp inquired.
"Yes Vamp, I told you the story when I came here.
"The curse has been lifted. If I want it back I have to go back."
Ryzaa now wore a dazed expression as one who was now in a dream.
But he soon snapped out of it.
"Hunter." he said. "What exactly are those birds?"
"They're Doused Phoenixes" he replied "they bring word of war, and are here to help."
"Vamp. I need to go. If war is coming I need to go see some friends."
"The zards? This should be good. Tell Vince I said hai."
"Will do, later Hunter."
With that he turned and left.

He met Flawsie again in the hall.
"Flaw?" "Ohai."
"What are you doing?" Ry asked.
"I'm going with you, to the forest at least. And so is Pae." said Flaw
"Alright then."
And so Ryzaa, Fredrick, Cecilia, Flaw and Pae went to the forest.

"So, besides the zards, why are we going to the forest?" asked Flawsie.
"Well..."

...Twelve years less two weeks from the day****...
Rayne was an adventurous child, born to Raymond and Serenity Durac.
He was also a very mischievous child, always ending up in some form of trouble.
By the age of four years, he had explored all of Greenguard.
By the age of six years, he had moved on to Arcangrove.
His parents had never let him near the border of Darkovia.

One cold winter morning he found himself exploring, deeper than he had ever gone into Arcangrove... and found himself in a dark wood, populated with trees shaped vaguely like humans.
A dark, glimmering frost covered every surface of the forest.
As he journeyed through the multitude of trees, he noticed numerous forms of disturbing wildlife.
As he trekked through this alien land, he began to notice deep purple stones that occasionally hung from the branches of the trees.
Eventually he stumbled upon an old dilapidated shack.
Ever the curious child, Rayne pushed open the heavy ashwood door and sauntered into the dark and forboding hut.

On entering he noticed many strange objects about him.
Most in the same dull purple as the stones he had seen in the forest.
A thick choking mist rolled in through the still-open door, swirling around him.
Rayne swiveled around to see a large cloaked figure emerging in the doorway.
A thick raspy voice filled the air.
"Greetings, young one. What brings you thither to my humble abode?"
Rayne turned and bolted away from the strange apparition, only to find it had appeared directly in front of him.
"Worry not, young one. You will now harvest the essence of doom***** for me, then you may leave and I will give you a great gift."
All Rayne could manage was a nod in terror.
"You will collect for me five of the essence of doom" the Mysterious Stranger continued.
"W-what is the essence of doom?" Rayne stammered.
"The essence comes in many forms. You see it in the purple stones that grow in my forest."
The mist swirled around Rayne once more, then darkness and he found himself standing outside of the hut.
"Well, better get those stones for the scary man" he said aloud.
Rayne set to work collecting the doom essence from the forest floor.
The essences were slimy to touch and he had a hard time picking them up.
When he had collected all five that were needed, he returned to the Mysterious Stranger's hut.

"Thank you, young one. That is all I needed, you may go now, but first, your gift!"
Black fire erupted from hands that now appeared from under the cloak.
The fire spread over to Rayne's body, engulfing him also.
"W-what is this?!" he screamed.
"Good, good. Feel the doom flow through you!"
Rayne's features began to change, his skin became deathly pale, his hair a vivid purple, the purple of the doom essence, his eyes fogged over and went a midnight blue, and he was burning. Burning with Doomfire.
"MUAHAHAHAHAHAhahahaha." was the last Rayne ever heard of the Mysterious Stranger. His world had gone dark.

Rayne woke up. He was in Greenguard Forest once again, his home was a mile eastward, he knew. He got up slowly, and headed home. He was still burning.
He walked through the village, arriving at his house.
He rapped on the door and waited tentatively.
His father opened the door to enter him, but stopped.
The man stared down at his son, an appalled look on his face.
"What happened?" Raymond asked his deformed son.
"I was in Arcangrove, father," Rayne replied
"You went farther than usual, didn't you?" Raymond inquired.
"Yes father," said Rayne, downcast.
"Get out of my sight." Raymond closed the door.
It was opened again shortly after, by Serenity, his mother.
"Demon child, leave us, and never come back!" she too closed the door.
Rayne began to cry, and then he ran, to the northwest farther than he had ever gone before.
To the Darkovian border, through the gate and into the lands his parents had forbid him.
"Rayne Durac is no more. I will be Ryzaa now."

Ryzaa spent three years in Darkovia his learnt to control his curse.
The Doomfire was a great power, as the Mysterious Stranger had said.
It made him run faster, it made him jump higher, it made him stronger.
He learnt how to call on it and decease it at will, but burning, he was always burning.

At the age of nine years he left Darkovia, and traveled, the next seven years were when he met the zards, befriended and taught Felicity to speak Lorian, when she had sent her son (Fredrick) to adventure with him, when he had taught himself to weild a weapon and when he found his StarSword, when he met Flaw, Charon, Shadow, Juli, Winnie, many, many others and eventually Vamp.

The next two years he was a member in TR, and slowly rose to power over the other members. He learnt great leadership in this time.

...Present time, edge of Greenguard Forest...
"I haven't been that far into the forest in twelve years, Flaw." Ry said at length.
"I don't want to go back.. but twelve years of having the Doomfire burn within you does something to you. The curse has been lifted.."
"Well I guess I'll leave you too it," said Flaw.
"Goodbye Flawsie."

*Good time of day for a few Doused Phoenixes to fly over, don't you think? Especially that Golden one.
**Note: Zards are reptiles.
***The Stronghold as I picture it, is a massive building, but only three story.
****/backstory
*****The humanoid trees that Rayne saw as he explored the forest of doom are actually the spirits of the damned, rematerialized on earth to repent eternally. The cruelest of these spirits will occassionnally grow doom essence upon their branches

Thanks for helping me with the backstory, Charon
You're welcome. :3

by **Hunter Reckoning** Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:32 am

Juli was walking up the stairs to check on Hunter who had talked to Vamp about the war. Hunter decided to see what else the Eagles wanted to tell him. When she got there she saw Hunter Leaning down near Tritocry, mumbling.

Hunter was talking to Tritocry.
We will lose the war, unless Ryzaa gets his doomfire back.
"I know that Tritocry, but you know something else dont you...."
*Sigh* Yes I do, we will need to call upon the Lesser beings for help....
"Shall I call them now?"
Yes
Hunter got up, and broke off one of Tritocry's horns with his eggbeater. The horn almost instantly grew back. Hunter walked to the edge of the castle roof, and then cracked an egg into the horn. Hunter then blew into the horn. Instead of the egg splashing out, a large golden soundwave came out, and washed over the forest, then the mountains far beyond. Hunter Was standing there, waiting, when a large silver sound wave came back, with a high pitched, ear breaking screech. And soon, what was left of the sun, was blocked out, by moving shapes. The members that were still in the main hall, walked back outside, and every eagle looked towards the horizon....at birds....millions of them.

by **Charon** Fri Jan 29, 2010 5:11 pm

Actually, new rule. No reserving UNLESS you are currently writing it and will be finished within an hour or two. Otherwise it just slows down the pace. Others want to post, too!

CtS~

D:

by Guest Sat Jan 30, 2010 2:32 pm

Wandering the Manaverse is an interesting thing. Feeling the soothing electricity of each mana particle passing through you, and the raw power in the air around you. Not to mention you get around by flying, which people hardly get to do in the universe. This was an exhilarating experience Weena had spent years getting used to, and now in his time of most desperate need, it was his Arctic flame. Figuratively speaking, of course. While his physical body regained its strength, he also had time to look around the Universe to see what's going on. Feeling a mass of powerful life forces around his physical body, he automatically assumed them to be Hunter's Doused Phoenix army. He sensed most of the TR members massed in the stronghold, having their own little adventures, and a few ducks in the moat.

He was just about to begin meditating when a sharp pain hit his chest in the physical world, immediately snapping his spirit back to his body. Opening his eyes, he saw a blade plunged in his chest, with Grey looming over his collapsed body. Blood poured out of his chest, and his world began to spin.

"You were always only a nuisance," Grey laughed, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

His breath leaving him, unable to alert anyone, Weena died.

by Kaotic Sat Jan 30, 2010 3:34 pm

Green = EoM
Italic = Thinking

//: Memory/Flashback, Kaotic’s home forest, 10 years ago (Kaotic's age: 11)

All was happy in the little forestvillage, called Savangrer.
Kaotic counted out loud to thirty. “..28, 29, 30! Ready or not, here I come!” Kaotic ran off in search of his friends.

~^_^^~

Kaotic had searched everywhere and had found two of his three friends. There was beautiful sunset, with a lovely tangerine orange rolling over and seeming to merge with the clouds, giving a orange cloud effect.
Okay, he can only be hiding near the Wildtrees, near the border of Savangrer.
Kaotic made his way off to the Wildtrees*.

~^_^^~

Kaotic had reached the Wildtrees, he could tell because the trees bent in a weird way, as if they had been twisted with ease by a powerful being; the branches were mangled, yet still grew outwards, and the bark was a bluey brown, and on these trees the leaves do not grow on the trees, yet grow around them and float were normal leaves would grow.
The leaves were a magnificent emerald green, slightly transparent, and bounced the light off in different directions so they gave off a nice shine.
Kaotic was silently crawling through the eerily quite forest, the sunlight was fading away, and getting duller every moment.
I should make my way home soon, he must’ve already left.
Kaotic made his way around 3 of those weird trees, when he saw a trail of footsteps on the ground, just out of nowhere, and the footsteps had seemed to make the soil turn greyish.
Kaotic bent down and touched the soil, much to his surprise, it felt like smooth stone, but didn’t have the same granite feel to it.
Kaotic kept on venturing through the Wildtrees, assuring himself to keep away from the grey footsteps, but couldn’t stop following these obscure grey tracks.
As he ventured a little further, the trees started to become even grey on their usual bluey-brown bark, and even some of the beautiful emerald green leaves were losing their colour, looking like the colour had seeped out from within them.
Kaotic was having second thoughts on about following this track, seeming everything was almost grey, when he saw something that made his jaw drop, and a tear instantly come to his eye. It was his friend Ascray, the last friend he had not found.
Ascray had been hanged, the blood was slowly creeping down his nose, and proceeding out the left side of his mouth. Ascray’s eyes were rolled into the back of his head, and weren’t the usual white, but a light grey, mostly like the rest of his body: not the dark-tanned Ascray Kao knew, but a grey stony colour.
Kao raced up to Ascray, knowing it was too late already, but it comforted him to talk to him. “ASCRAY!” Kao yelled, weeping. “Ascray, please, what did you do to deserve this?”
Kao was suddenly lost for words as he laid his head on the limp body of his friend and began to cry uncontrollably.

~^_^^~

It was completely dark now, and he had to pull himself away from Ascray, whose clothes were now completely damp with tears.
Kao had a new hatred in his head, it burnt into his mind.
I will avenge Ascray, and kill mercilessly whoever did this to him.
Kao heard a crack in the trees, he didn’t even check, he just ran after these grey tracks, when he smelt something, something like smoke.
He looked up to see the moon, bright as ever, illuminate huge clouds of smoke.
Now with fear in his heart, and hate in his mind, he ran towards the safer parts of Savanagrer.

~^_^^~

The cloud was well heavy now, coughing as he ran, Kao could feel heat, not good.
He passed some of the last small trees, some of the leaves were burning, and the heat was now immense and the cloud so thick his vision was limited.
He threw away the last tree branches, ready to embrace the two great trees he lived in.. to be greeted with the sight of them already half burnt down, and everything around it burning.
Kao fell to his knees, tears in his eyes once again, but the heat was so strong the tears evaporated. Kaotic didn’t care anymore, he didn’t care if someone came behind him and killed him, in fact he would rather they did... he had just lost everyone and everything in his world... all he could think to do was run, so he ran towards the market road which lead to a great city known as Battleon.
Kao ran and ran, but the smoke was too thick, he was coughing severely now, even though the clouds were clearing as he ran, he felt the heaviness of his eyelids, and the dryness of his throat.
He pushed away some last branches and fell onto the hard gravel road, and let his head stay down, dizzy from the fall, he thought he could make out the outline of a white man with very red hair… holding a fish….
Great, so I get to die going insane…
And Kao let his eyelids fall, and one more cough, then there was black.

//: Klasthe, right before Kao Telejumps

The same hatred that filled his mind years ago, had now re-entered him.
It suddenly hit him, that the grey footsteps, the colour-seeped trees…
It was Grey.. Grey..
Kao thought to himself
I have a fight with grey as the rest of TR does…
As soon as Kao telejumped, he stopped straight away, he had already ran about 800 meters in 1 second.
Kao Pulled the Teletrial from the innermost part of his mind, and opened it up, and jumped right in, expecting to face a cold clammy cave, as he thought of Grey’s hideout, but he was wrong.
Kao fell face first into a soft soil, not a rocky surface.
He lifted his head up, it was just before dark, and he was surrounded by bewildering trees, like they were… bent
Can it be, the Willdtrees?
he stood up, and inspected a tree, it was grey, just like it was on that dreadful night, except it now looked dead, yet alive..
Weird
Those trees, look like the Klasthe forest
That's because it is Klasthe…
As Kao Was inspecting the tree, he heard footsteps treading on the soft soil, he hid behind the current tree and looked to side, just so slightly, and saw something that puzzled him, it was him self, but younger.. infact:
I’ve gone back in time!
Do you want to prevent what happened in the past, so this boy may have a better life?
How do you know..?
I bonded, I have your memories
Kao felt stupid, of course EoM knew, but EoM was right, even if he was fiddling with time, he wanted this boy, to live a better life.
Kao ran at a speed which showed he was use to the forest, he stopped for a second, Ascray was already dead, he could not change that, a tear formed in his eye, as he remember that moment, and passed it on, he must try stop Grey, so he ran again to Savangrer.

~^_^~

He emerged too see the two great trees under the twilight, neither were burn’t yet, so Grey must be doing something.
What would Grey do in a scene like this Kao thought to no-one, but was answered.
Well, he wouldn’t want to make a scene, he would head straight for the easiest way to settle this
Suddenly a horrific thought hit Kao
The Life Root..
The root gave the main supply the great trees needed, this would bring them both down in a matter of seconds, Kao ran at such a speed he was basically flying off the ground.
In a matter of seconds Kao had gotten to the protective barrier of the Life Root, the Elders of Savangrer had set this up to stop anything penetrating the Life Root after finding what purpose it had.
This barrier was like a twig to snap for Grey, Kao could already see a great grey hole in the middle of the barrier, thanks to this unusually bright moon.
He progressed his way towards the hole, and he entered, just to be hit with such a blast of greyness that he went flying about 50 odd meters until he hit a tree, which snapped.
Kao, winded, stood up in pain, and he looked down towards the Life Root… there was fire
I have failed.. to complete anything, than watch my home get destroyed again..
Kao sat back down again, letting his winded body to regain breath.
We best be going, its bad enough to be back in time
Kao went to the innermost corners of his brain in search of the Teletrail, found it, and proceeded to open it up, finding that he couldn’t, began to worry
If I can’t open this, I’ll be stuck in the past, forever
Are there any other Teletrails in this Forest?
Kao thought for a moment
Yes, Grey’s--but that is covered in fire…

* Wildtrees, a forest protected by magical powers, which only accepts Manabenders in, no-one knew this until it was found again and renamed Klasthe.

by Sponsored content